{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/mart/mart081.htm","path":"neu/mart/mart081.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/mart/mart081.htm","text":"CHAPTER XXI\nHow King Pelleas suffered himself to be taken prisoner\nbecause he would have a sight of his lady, and how\nSir Gawaine promised him to get to him the love of\nhis lady.\nAND so he chose her for his sovereign lady, and never to love\nother but her, but she was so proud that she had scorn of him,\nand said that she would never love him though he would die for\nher. Wherefore all ladies and gentlewomen had scorn of her that\nshe was so proud, for there were fairer than she, and there was\nnone that was there but an Sir Pelleas would have proffered them\nlove, they would have loved him for his noble prowess. And so\nthis knight promised the Lady Ettard to follow her into this\ncountry, and never to leave her till she loved him. And thus he\nis here the most part nigh her, and lodged by a priory, and every\nweek she sendeth knights to fight with him. And when he hath put\nthem to the worse, then will he suffer them wilfully to take him\nprisoner, because he would have a sight of this lady. And always\nshe doth him great despite, for sometime she maketh her knights\nto tie him to his horse's tail, and some to bind him under the\nhorse's belly; thus in the most shamefullest ways that she can\nthink he is brought to her. And all she doth it for to cause him\nto leave this country, and to leave his loving; but all this\ncannot make him to leave, for an he would have fought on foot he\nmight have had the better of the ten knights as well on foot as\non horseback. Alas, said Sir Gawaine, it is great pity of him;\nand after this night I will seek him to-morrow, in this forest,\nto do him all the help I can. So on the morn Sir Gawaine took\nhis leave of his host Sir Carados, and rode into the forest; and\nat the last he met with Sir Pelleas, making great moan out of\nmeasure, so each of them saluted other, and asked him why he made\nsuch sorrow. And as it is above rehearsed, <136>Sir Pelleas told\nSir Gawaine: But always I suffer her knights to fare so with me\nas ye saw yesterday, in trust at the last to win her love, for\nshe knoweth well all her knights should not lightly win me, an me\nlist to fight with them to the uttermost. Wherefore an I loved\nher not so sore, I had liefer die an hundred times, an I might\ndie so oft, rather than I would suffer that despite; but I trust\nshe will have pity upon me at the last, for love causeth many a\ngood knight to suffer to have his entent, but alas I am\nunfortunate. And therewith he made so great dole and sorrow that\nunnethe he might hold him on horseback.\nNow, said Sir Gawaine, leave your mourning and I shall promise\nyou by the faith of my body to do all that lieth in my power to\nget you the love of your lady, and thereto I will plight you my\ntroth. Ah, said Sir Pelleas, of what court are ye? tell me, I\npray you, my good friend. And then Sir Gawaine said, I am of the\ncourt of King Arthur, and his sister's son, and King Lot of\nOrkney was my father, and my name is Sir Gawaine. And then he\nsaid, My name is Sir Pelleas, born in the Isles, and of many\nisles I am lord, and never have I loved lady nor damosel till now\nin an unhappy time; and, sir knight, since ye are so nigh cousin\nunto King Arthur, and a king's son, therefore betray me not but\nhelp me, for I may never come by her but by some good knight, for\nshe is in a strong castle here, fast by within this four mile,\nand over all this country she is lady of. And so I may never\ncome to her presence, but as I suffer her knights to take me, and\nbut if I did so that I might have a sight of her, I had been dead\nlong or this time; and yet fair word had I never of her, but when\nI am brought to-fore her she rebuketh me in the foulest manner.\nAnd then they take my horse and harness and put me out of the\ngates, and she will not suffer me to eat nor drink; and always I\noffer me to be her prisoner, but that she will not suffer me, for\nI would desire no more, what pains so ever I had, so that I might\nhave a sight of her daily. Well, said Sir Gawaine, all this\nshall I amend an ye will do as I shall devise: I will have your\nhorse and <137>your armour, and so will I ride unto her castle\nand tell her that I have slain you, and so shall I come within\nher to cause her to cherish me, and then shall I do my true part\nthat ye shall not fail to have the love of her.","title":"Le Morte d'Arthur BOOK IV CHAPTER XXI","type":"page"}